Everybody Knows
by doctorwhowatchesthewatchmen
Summary: "These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, Which as they kiss consume." - Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare.


**A/N, this is my first HP fic, so please tell me if you think this could be improved. The song Everybody Knows is by Concrete Blonde. Please review, and tell me if I should keep this going.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, unfortunately, from either Harry Potter or Concrete Blonde.  
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* * *

Everybody Knows

A DM/GW fanfic

"Who is_ that_?" A random muggle asked the silver-haired boy watching the girl onstage with the intensity of the sun.

He smirked and gave a short snort, "I have no idea."

* * *

_24 Hours Earlier_

_

* * *

_"What's the matter, Weasly? Can't take a hit? Qudditch to rough for a girl?" Draco Malfoy sneered as the youngest of the Weasly brood walked off of the field clutching her right shoulder. They were the last two off after a brutal game that had to be canceled due to the amount of players injured on both teams.

"I don't know, you tell me. I've been _dying_ to know what it's like to have been beaten on the field as badly as you have." The redhead fired back at him, seeing him limp slightly as he walked.

The Slytherin smirked and hit her in the shoulder she was babying. Ginny Weasly tried not to let him see the tears that welled in her eyes, so instead she yelled out a profanity and cursed his name as well in the process. Draco was surprised by the loud noise that came out of such a tiny body.

"My, what a lovely singing voice you must have." He said sarcastically and trotted off to his own room to change out of his uniform. As he left he heard the Gryffindor mutter something that sounded like another profanity, one he was unused to hearing girls say. He looked behind him in hopes of getting another glance at the Weasly girl, but no such luck came to him.

"GINERVA WEASLY!" A booming voice surprised her as she walked into the Gryffindor common room. Oddly enough that voice came from her older brother, Ron, who had been taken out of the match pretty early on because of a concussion.

"Ron, uh, shouldn't you still be in the hospital wing?" Ginny said tiredly, wanting nothing more than to get past him and the rest of the house that was waiting expectantly for her.

"NO, well, yes, but that's not the point." Ron stood a several feet away from her but still had managed to be right in Ginny's face.

"Okay, then what is the point?" Ginny asked confusedly, half of the room was watching her with expectation; the other half looked at her with pity, "And why are you all looking at me like that?"

Ron leaned over the side of the couch to whisper something in a bushy-headed girl's ear. Hermione turned to face Ron completely, and said something in a strong but hushed voice. Ginny felt something kick in her gut and she scanned the room.  
"Ron, where's Harry? I saw him when the game was over but . . . I don't . . . see him now." Ginny looked over all of the faces in the common room, still Harry's did not appear. She turned back to Ron and Hermione, who was now standing and facing Ginny, a look of torment on her face – like she was torn over something.

"Hermione," Ginny said slowly, taking a small step towards the older girl, "Where is Harry?" Hermione glanced up at Ron who turned his face towards the fire, narrowing his gaze on the flames.

"Hermione," She said again, only this time a little louder, "Where is Harry?"

Hermione cleared her throat and twiddled with her thumbs.  
"HERMIONE!" Ginny yelled this time, the fear beginning to creep up into her stomach and spread through to her chest, "Don't spare me, just tell me where he is." The look in the tired girl's eyes was pleading, mixed with fear and suspicion.

Hermione looked down at the floor and mumbled something, "….left…didn't say…going…took someone…sorry." The half of the house that looked at Ginny with pity stood up and left quietly, Ron shooed the other half away, so that it was just the three of them in the common room.

"What? What did she say?" Ginny was desperate now for the information everyone seemed to know already, tears thickening her voice.

"He left, and didn't say where he was going. But he took someone with him. I'm so sorry." Hermione said in a whisper, her eyes were still glued to the floor.

"Oh! Oh, oh, okay." Tears spilled quickly down Ginny's face. She backed herself up to the wall and clutched her chest, feeling as though her heart had been ripped out. She crumpled on the ground, drawing her knees up to her chest, trying to apply pressure to where it hurt. Hermione rushed over and held Ginny in her arms. Ginny hissed as Hermione squished her shoulder, reminding her that she had already been injured. _I'd rather Malfoy punch me in the shoulder a thousand times than have to feel this painful emptiness,_ Ginny thought, one hand on her shoulder, the other over her heart.

"I'm going to kill him, you know." Ginny choked out to Ron who was now sitting on the back of the couch trying to regain his balance. "I'm going to make him feel the pain I feel; only his is going to leave visible scars, if they get the chance to scar." She hissed and "ouch-ed" as Hermione prodded her shoulder.

"You both are going to the hospital wing, right now." Hermione said in more a demanding voice than her usual confidant tone. She stood Ginny up, Ginny hissing the whole way back up.

"Thank you, Hermione, but I really need to change out of my clothes before I go anywhere, or do anything. Go ahead and take Ron, he looks about ready to fall over. We wouldn't want to ruin that face, now would we?" Ginny said teasingly.

"But –," Hermione started, but Ginny interrupted saying, "I'll be fine, and I'll see you in the hospital wing as soon as I get some clean clothes."

Hermione gave Ginny a wary look, but said okay and left her, taking Ron by the hand and leading him carefully through the portrait hole. The redhead dropped to her knees again, feeling the gaping hole in her chest grow. She coughed and her whole body jerked forwards onto the floor. She saw that she had coughed up blood and quickly wiped it up with her uniform. She stood up, slightly dizzy from the loss of blood, but stabled herself on the back of a chair and went and changed her clothes.

* * *

Draco Malfoy sat in the Slytherin commons staring off into the fireplace, contemplating the match, the strategy – or lack thereof for the Gryffindor team – the Weasly girl. For some reason the fiery redhead kept seeping into his thoughts. He didn't know if it was just because she had been the only Gryffindor left standing, or if it had more to do with the fact that her comebacks to his insults where getting much wittier, and much harsher. For whatever reason, she couldn't seem to stay in the back of his mind like all the other girls. Something about her was definitely different, _to bad Potter had to go and ruin her with all of his 'goody-two-shoes boy-that-lived' crap,_ He thought.

He held an empty glass that had contained the last of the smuggled firewhiskey in one hand, and in the other he had a small piece of paper with whatever the latest gossip was. The enchanted parchment was one of his more ingenious ideas, however it only picked up what was being said on the grapevine, and not anything personal…yet. He opened the pale paper and black letters formed and produced words. _Harry Potter Disappears Mysteriously During Gryffindor Vs. Slytherin Match._

Draco chuckled darkly to himself; _Stupid Saint Potter couldn't even stay to watch them lose. _The enchanted paper went on to say:_ It Is Said That He Was Last Seen Leaving With Pansy Parkinson, Who Also Disappeared During Today's Match. _

"Oh, now that is a juicy bit of information. No news on the Weasly girl, though? What good is an enchanted piece of parchment if it can't spy on enemy players?" Draco mumbled thoughtfully to himself. Suddenly the letters began to rearrange themselves as new news had worked its way into the system.

_Ginny Weasly Was Found Collapsed Outside The Hospital Wing; Madame Pomfrey Says She Has A Serious Injury To Her Right Shoulder. No News Yet On How She Has Taken Potters Abandonment, And No News On How This Will Effect Her Qudditch Game. _

Draco looked down at the most recent piece of news and felt slightly guilty for having punched the girl in the shoulder, and even more guilty for his thoughts about her and Potter. But, like a good Slytherin, he quickly dismissed the feeling and instead replaced it with the smug feeling of superiority over the Weakly Weasly and the Pathetic Potter.

Draco stood up from his seat as several first year Slytherins came bustling into the common room with stacks of parchment in their hands. He knew from the looks on their faces that they weren't going to do anything to them, just sit down and plot the end of the mudblood world – like all first years. He grimaced slightly to himself when he realized he'd been one of those first years – spent more time plotting death and destruction than focusing on his studies. He left the common room to visit the teammates who had been injured during the match, in the back of his mind he wondered if he would see Ginny Weasly there.

_Yes, yes you will see Ginny there,_ Draco hushed the question in his stood just out of sight of the doors to the hospital, and brushed himself off. No sense in looking like slob when he is greater than all of them combined. _You can fool them, but you can't fool me, _his conscience said darkly. He walked into the hospital; every bed was taken, full of players still in their uniforms – save one. The Weasly girl stood out like a sore thumb amongst the wounded, what with her being in her everyday drab, and the rest looking like they were fresh off of the field. Her bright red hair seemed even redder against the white sheet of her pillow. Draco passed her, with what he hoped looked like a sneer on his face, to go sit next to his friend Blaise.

"I'm sorry Mr. Malfoy, but Mr. Zabini here is in a coma. He won't be able to hear you." Madame Pomfrey said, but the words didn't register into Draco's conscience. He was watching as Ginny Weasly tossed slightly in her bed. Asleep, and still trying to fight her way out of her bonds. "Oh, I see, Mr. Malfoy. Just don't do something stupid. You have a habit of it, I know."

The last bit Draco did hear, and sat back in his chair and continued to watch the girl struggle in her sheets. In a dark corner of Draco's mind he imagined himself making her writhe in a similar way, only not in pain, and with much less clothing on. But Draco didn't want to go there, he didn't want to see her chest rise and fall faster and faster with every quickening breath. He didn't want to see her long red hair whirl her around like a fire licking angrily at the blowing wind. Wait; there wasn't a breeze in here, not even a hint of wind. He was slipping into a fantasy, and in the presence of others. He stood up sharply and left, taking a sideways glance at the Weasly girl before ducking out the doors.

Draco didn't walk back down to the Slytherin house, but it wasn't quite running either, since he still limped a bit from the game. He didn't stop for anything until he was in the privacy of his own room, which he had had since his family was oh-so rich. He took off the shirt that he was wearing, feeling the collar burn him around his neck. The next things he lost were his shoes, and then his pants, and then he climbed into the silky sheets that made up his bed.

He closed his eyes and prayed for sleep to come quickly, but he laid there, awake, for what seemed like hours, though he knew it had been a matter of minutes only. He kept his eyes closed but behind his tired eyes a scene played out in front of him. The scene he had imagined in the hospital wing. _It was nighttime, and the two of them were out in the Forbidden Forest, why they were there, Draco didn't know, but he didn't care._ _Ginny, the beautiful Gryffindor was just standing there in front of him, wanting nothing more than him. The wind whipped her long red hair around her beautiful face; along with the dress she wore, it made her look like she was flying. She wore a beautiful strapless white chiffon dress that made her look like she was floating as she walked over to him. She stood so close to him, the scent of lilacs drifted up into his nose, yet she did not touch him. So tantalizingly close without contact. _

"_Close your eyes." She whispered in his ear. Immediately he obeyed, and closed his eyes. He felt a gentle kiss behind his ear, and another below his ear, then another on his neck. Everywhere she kissed him, a fire blazed under his skin. She kissed him along his jaw, and when she reached his chin she kissed him just below his lips, then up on his nose; everywhere but his mouth. She put her hands on his shoulders and slid them under his jacket, pushing them off with one swift movement. Suddenly he, too, felt a breeze, and shivered just as Ginny put her soft hands around the back of his neck and into his hair. _

"_Keep them closed." Ginny whispered, as Draco had tried peeking at what she was doing. She pressed her body up against his, her hands never leaving his hair, but instead running through it, touching and feeling every visible inch of his head. _

"_Let me love you tonight." She whispered, pulling slightly at the chunk of his hair she had wound her fingers into. Who was he to deny such a strong, beautiful woman? She put her nose against his ear in the nuzzling fashion, and moved her hands from his hair down to his shirt. She lifted her knee to capture his, and pull him closer to her. And just as he was beginning to understand her, she pulled away to look at him. _

_She laughed to herself, and he wondered if that was the way angels laughed, "You can open you're eyes now, you silly Slytherin." So, he did, and when he did he thought he was going crazy, because somehow she seemed more beautiful than before. Up close now he could see fire in her liquid amber eyes, and how the light splatter of freckles over her nose highlighted her them. She looked deeply into his own eyes and without closing her eyes or breaking contact with his, she leaned in and barely brushed her lips against his, wanting to see what his reaction was. His reaction – or, lack thereof – surprised her. She quickly pressed her lips to his, instantly feeling him react the way she had wanted. He moved his hands to her hips, pulling them towards him. He closed his eyes again, as Ginny tried to get access to deepen the kiss, but instead when she had almost stopped trying he opened and forcefully kissed her back._

_Ginny moved her hands down to the collar of his shirt and began to unbutton what seemed like to many buttons for one shirt. However, Ginny didn't waste her time with all of the buttons; as soon as she got a good number of them undone she slipped her hands inside to be skin to skin with him. Draco felt a chill as she did so, noting that her hands were freezing, yet at the same time he felt like he was going to either melt and dissolve into the forest floor, or boil away into the foggy night sky. Either way about it he thought he saw steam rise from his chest when their skin met. _

_From there, Ginny proceeded to rip the rest of Draco's shirt off of him. She pressed herself against him for the second time, only now she could feel his hard on through his pants and her dress. She smiled against his mouth at the feeling, knowing from just the touch that he was much bigger than Harry Potter, and probably knew how to use it, too! Draco, too, smiled at the feeling, his hands moved from her hips to her the small of her back…_

_"Draco…" Ginny moaned, hearing her say his name sent a shiver down his spine._

_ "Ginny…" He moaned back, closing his eyes to slowly take in every sensation._

"Draco!" This time Draco knew that the voice he heard was not Ginny Weasly's, this time it was a male voice calling to him through his door. Quickly he sat up in his bed and called out, "Wh-Who is it?"

"It's Goyle. Some of the guys – well, they heard some noises comin' from your room and-."

"And what? You decided you'd come and disturb me? I was just – I was just having a nightmare, that's all." Draco interrupted him and spoke in his normal snidely superior tone.

"I'll leave you to your 'nightmare' then." Draco could practically hear the air-quotation marks being made through the door at the word 'nightmare'. He then proceeded to lie back in his bed, but not closing his eyes for fear that the same dream would come back to him; the same nightmare . . . the same fantasy . . . the same desire that had built in his chest. He let out a heavy sigh and turned on his side to try and sleep without dreaming. As it was, he was unsuccessful.

* * *

Ginny Weasly awoke to find herself in the hospital wing, all the pain she had felt in her shoulder was now gone, but the gaping hole in her chest remained. She thought about how Harry had just left, not even taking the time to lie to her, he'd just – just up and left. Part of Ginny had already come to terms with the fact that he was gone, reasoning that she'd fallen out of love with him months ago, and only stayed because she thought that he truly loved her. The other part of Ginny couldn't believe that he was gone because she had truly loved him – and even though she wasn't in love, she loved him enough to care, enough to stay, enough to look the other way when he was out with another girl.

Ginny was only hurt by the fact that he had left without saying goodbye that he didn't even want to face her, to say to her face that he felt the same way as she did. She was only upset because she didn't have the choice of a clean break in the relationship, she didn't have the choice of leaving the relationship with some dignity.

Thinking of dignity, or lack thereof, everything that she had told Ron and Hermione in the common room before was just the pain in her shoulder talking; she wasn't really going to kill him. And in all honesty, she was just playing it up a bit since she hadn't told either of them that she didn't love Harry in that way anymore. Ginny sat up in her hospital bed, the room spun for a moment, but once it stopped she stood up and tried to leave.

"Miss Weasly, just where do you think you're going?" She could hear Madame Pomfrey's words, but they sounded wrong, like she her ears were all stuffed up.

"I'm going back to my dorm room, and I'm going to get some sleep. My shoulder feels fine, and you need that bed more than I do." Ginny said firmly, though the room was slightly swaying from side to side.

"Miss Granger, help her back to her dorm." Madame Pomfrey commanded. Ginny hadn't even noticed that her brother Ron was in the bed next to hers, and that Hermione was sitting next to him, holding onto to his hand for dear life. Ginny internally scoffed at the girl, but she let the foolish girl lead her back to her room anyway.

When they reached the Fat Lady, Ginny turned to Hermione and asked, "How long has it been? It must be like, midnight, or something, right?"

"Since you collapsed in the hall? Six hours, and it's closer to two in the morning, I think." Ginny nodded, and let the subject alone.

"Wolf's Bane." Hermione said to the portrait, and the door swung open. Ginny let herself be helped through the portrait hole, and into the common room, and then said to the older girl, "You go on back. I can make it from here."

Hermione gave her a questioning look, which Ginny reasoned with saying, "You should go back to Ron, if you leave him alone to long he'll get worried and wonder if something happened to you." Hermione couldn't question that logic; her own worry seemed to be pouring out of her ears.

"You sure?" Hermione tried to give Ginny one more chance for help, but Ginny quickly reassured her that she was fine and that the longer she stayed there, the more worried Ron was going to be and that they both knew how Ron could be when he was worried. The older girl seemed to run out of the room in hopes of reaching Ginny's brother faster. She laughed a little to herself, the sight of Hermione running was enough to make an entire room full of people laugh.

Ginny stumbled up to the girls' dormitory and collapsed into her bed. She pulled her knees up to her chest, and fell asleep thinking about the events of the day, and trying to piece together the broken aspects of her life. What was she going to tell Ron and Hermione? What was she going to tell everyone when they asked? As she saw it there were two ways she could play it: one way would be to play all broken hearted and upset, the other way was to play it cool and shove everyone away. Yeah, she liked the second one more. It was Less "I'm-so-sad-because-my-cheating-boyfriend-left-me-for-some-whore", more "I-don't-give-a-damn-what-you-think" and "Get-the-hell-away-from-me".

Tomorrow, she decided, was going to be a lot different. And people were going to see a side of her they never knew existed.

The next day Ginny woke up, still in her the clothes she had changed into after the game, and found that her shoulder was slightly sore from sleeping on it funny. She rubbed her shoulder and looked around. All of the other girls were still asleep. She looked at her clock, 5_:25. _She hadn't even gotten a full three hours of sleep. She brushed out some of the wrinkles in her clothes and looked at her reflection in the window. She ran her fingers through her red mane and declared herself ready. But for what, she didn't know.

Ginny went down to the great hall, hunger fueling her actions. She got some breakfast, and then went to sit at the Gryffindor table. She chose a spot that was vacant and slightly at an angle so that she could look at the rest of the people who were already eating. As she ate she watched as people gave her sideways glances and pitying looks. She smiled with a mouth full of eggs at anyone she caught looking at her. However, when her gaze ran over the Slytherin table, she noticed that Draco Malfoy was looking in her direction.

Ginny figured it must have been someone at one of the other tables and ignored him. But the feeling she got when she looked at him made her anger drop into her stomach. Again, she casually looked over the table, only this time with the intent of finding Draco Malfoy. He was still looking in her direction, and their eyes met from across the room. The feeling in her stomach dropped again, and suddenly she wasn't hungry anymore. She turned from the table, and her half eaten plate of food, and stood up sharply, leaving the great hall in a rush.

* * *

When Draco saw that Ginny was leaving, he quickly stood up from his seat, and went to follow her. All he had wanted was to talk to her, even if it meant – he gagged at the thought – even if it meant _apologizing_ for hitting her in her shoulder. He saw her sitting in the courtyard; _the wind whipped her long red hair around her beautiful face_, his mind went back to the dream he had had last night. No, he told himself, this is not a dream, and that is not what I want from her. Again his conscience spoke, the same haunting words it had the night before in the hospital wing, _you can fool them, but you can't fool me. _

Draco quickly dismissed the thought, and went to stand in the morning moonlight. He just stood in the courtyard, pretending not to see the Weasly girl sitting against the stone wall. After a long moment of silence, just standing there listening to the silence was torturing him. So, he spoke up, "Heard about Potter." He said snidely.

"Yeah?" Ginny said absentmindedly. She really didn't care what he thought.

"Yeah, took off during the match with Pansy Parkinson." He didn't turn to see her face, but he heard a sharp _hiss_ come from her direction. He didn't see that she had put her hand on a rock in the grass.

"Yeah, I heard about that too." She lied. _Pansy Parkinson? Real original, Harry_, she thought.

"Well, think of it this way: With Potter gone, Gryffindor'll have to get a new seeker, and a new captain. And your chances of losing to us will greatly increase." Draco turned to look at her, a smirk spread across his face.

"Who knew Draco Malfoy was such an optimist?" Ginny retorted sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she spoke. _"Draco…" Ginny moaned, hearing her say his name sent a shiver down his spine._ The dream was starting to blend into reality, and now it was starting to frighten Draco, as it truly did send a shiver down his spine, and hit him in his core.

He forced a strained laugh, and said, "Optimist? Hardly a word I'd use."

"What word would you use?" She said, stretching herself out on the grass. She stared into his eyes with a great fire burning in her own.

"Um. . ." Draco was flustered; for once in his life he was speechless.

She laughed at his inability to speak. _She laughed to herself, and he wondered if that was the way angels laughed._

"Oh, my, is the Great Draco Malfoy unable to speak? And you call yourself a Slytherin?" She rolled onto her stomach. Her hair flipped over to cover half of her face, but through the bright red layers he could see her looking up at him, mischief in her eyes.

"I'm not speechless; it's just that finding one word to perfectly describe myself is impossible." Draco folded his arms across his chest.

"That would be the word I'd use to describe you." She said somewhat to herself. A moment of silence passed between them, and all was quiet until she broke the silence.

"Why were you looking at me in the great hall?" Ginny asked him in earnest. He laughed skeptically, in a choked way. Had he been that obvious?

"Don't flatter yourself, Weasly. I wasn't looking at you."

"Oh? Then what were you looking at? And if you weren't looking at me, why did you follow me into the courtyard?" Ginny's questions were blunt and to the point, no nonsense about them.

"For starters, I was staring off into space, and you just happened to be in that direction. And as for following you, that is not what I did. I just wanted away from all those thickheads, and came out here. I actually didn't notice you were out here." He thought he had covered all his bases, but there was one detail he had seemed to miss, that Ginny did not.

"So, why did you talk to me, if you didn't know I was even out here?" He looked at her. A smile spread across her face at his own reaction and silence on the matter. He knew he'd been caught, and know she knew it too; there was no point in denying it anymore.

"Gotcha," She said smugly, and pulled herself up onto her knees, "So, why were you looking at me, anyway?" All smugness had left her face, and she was looking at him intensely, curiosity apparent on her face.

"I-I honestly am not sure why," Draco ran a pale hand through his hair, "All I know is, I couldn't stop looking at you." He didn't look at her when he said this, for shame of what he felt, but when she answered him with silence, his own curiosity killed his shame. When he looked over at her he could see that she was slightly blushing, and had looked away herself. Another silence befell the two sworn enemies who were discussing things that went against both of their moral and ethical codes.

As the silence went on Ginny felt Draco's eyes on her, burning holes into her head, burning everywhere his eyes went on her. From her visible shoulders, to her long legs clad in only jean shorts that hit just above her knobby knees. Deep inside of her she felt a fire build and with that fire came her bravery which lead her to break the silence that consuming the air they were both desperately trying breathe.

"So . . . you wanna leave school grounds?" She asked, the mischief lighting her eyes again.

"Leave? And go where? I've been to Hogsmeade thanks." She couldn't believe that she was actually making Draco Malfoy consider leaving the school grounds.

"Not Hogsmeade, a muggle city." She stood up on her feet and realized that somehow they had managed to inch closer to each other, now they were barely three - maybe four feet apart.

"And just what muggle city is near here?" Draco motioned around; the look on his face was full of disbelief and bewilderment.

"Apparation, silly." She waved her wand around like a plain old stick.

"You can't apparate inside Hogwarts; you can't even do it in Hogsmeade." He tried reasoning with her.

"Is that so?" She toyed with him; she wanted to see him squirm over this tiny piece of information. She began walking out of the courtyard, headed in the direction of Hogsmeade.

"Where are you going?" Draco called after her.

"Follow me and find out." She twirled around to face him, still walking, and then spun around to walk straight again.

Draco followed her, his competitiveness kicking in. He wanted to know where she was going, and he wanted to know why she was taking him there. After a walking for quite a while they ended up in Hogsmeade, as he had suspected, but as he kept up with the fiery redhead he realized that she was taking him far past anywhere he'd normally gone. The end destination was the Hog's Head inn, which Draco, of course, had never been in.

They stopped in front of the door for just a moment. Draco looked at her in puzzlement; she took his hand, the feeling of her soft hand in his made him revert back to his fantasy, but that came screeching to a halt when she led him inside the grungy tavern. She took him to the back, far from curious eyes, and apparated the two of them out of the village of Hogsmeade. The feeling of apparating was not surprising to him as he had done it before. Where they ended up was the surprising part.

"Um, Weasly, where exactly are we?" Draco stumbled around, the bright lights and various noises of Time Square were a little disorienting.

"America, New York. Where else would a normal person go, other than New York?" Ginny asked him in all seriousness.

"Um, just tell me, what _exactly_ are we doing here?" Draco demanded.

"Clubbing." Ginny said simply, taking him by the hand again and leading him down a side street.

"What?" Draco asked skeptically.

"Clubbing – there's music, and dancing, and drinking, and it's just an amazing experience. Thought you should try it." She smiled back at him, as she seemed to be pulling him along.

"I know what clubbing is, I just – why are you taking me clubbing?" Draco felt so confused by her total lack of comprehension of the facts that A) He was a MALFOY, and that B) He was a SLYTHERIN.

"I'm lonely, you're alone. What better pairing than two people who hate each other? And like I said, I really think you should try it – it is so much fun. Oh! This is the place." Without letting him get another word in edge wise, Ginny pulled him inside a tiny bar that was just about stuffed with people. There was a loud thumping noise, which he realized was supposed to be music, and a lot of people standing close to the bar with drinks in their hands.

"Hey, they've got Karaoke tonight!" Ginny said excitedly and let Draco's hand slip out of her own. She went up to the bar, and the bartender greeted her like she'd been there before, she wrote something down a piece of paper and the bartender nodded. A second later Draco watched her come running up to him in excitement, the piece of paper in her hand.

"What's that?" Draco asked, careful not to touch her again. _Well, that's stupid. You're loss, _Ginny thought.

"My song selection _and_ when I go on." Ginny practically jumped with excitement. She had never shown Harry this place; then again, he was never interested in her life. She didn't ask what he did on Saturday nights, and he didn't ask her.

"Um, Ginny, how come it's ten o'clock? It wasn't even eight when we left." Draco obviously saw the clock hanging over the sign pointing to the bathrooms.

"Uh, didn't I say we were in New York? As in America? As in there's a time difference? Plus it kind of takes a while to get from the Hogs Head to here so, yeah." Ginny turned away from him, patting herself down, spinning around again, and patting herself again. She had misplaced the paper with her information.

"Draco? Did you see what I did what that paper? I can't seem to find it anywhere." Ginny continued her little dance as she spoke. To her relief he held up the small white piece of paper.

"You wouldn't do well on the subways. Not knowing if someone had picked your pocket." He noted to her.

"Did you pick my pocket?" Ginny asked in amused bewilderment, and just as she thought she saw some color flood into Draco's pale complexion she heard her name get called from the stage. She quickly made her way to the stage, weaving in and out of all the muggles who were either drunk and falling on themselves in a stupor, or were sober and were dancing wildly with the drunken people.

The music started playing, it was an unfamiliar tune, one Draco had never heard before. It was slow and steady, and seemed to get quite the reaction from the crowd. Out of nowhere, Ginny started singing, "Everybody knows the dice are loaded, everybody rolls with their fingers crossed. Everybody knows that the war is over, everybody knows that the good guys lost."

The muggles went wild as she belted out the song. She ran her fingers up the microphone stand, slowly, and then back down.

"Everybody knows the fight is fixed, the poor stay poor and the rich get rich. That's how it goes. Everybody knows that the boat is sinking; everybody knows that the captain lied. Everybody's got this broken feeling, like their Momma or there dog just died."

Several people began to join in with her singing; in fact many people in the small club began to sing the words as well – only very loud and very off key.

"Everybody's hands are in their pockets, everybody wants a box of chocolates, and a long stem rose. Everybody knows; everybody knows; everybody knows, that's how it goes, everybody knows," Draco caught her eye while she sang and she smiled at him, "Everybody knows; everybody knows; that's the way it goes, everybody knows." Ginny continued her slow meaningful song, causing the people at her feet to begin to dance even more absurdly. She too danced with the stand, looking around at the room.

"Everybody knows that it's now or never. Everybody knows that it's me or you. Everybody knows that you live forever when you had a line or two. Everybody knows the deal is rotten, old black Joe still pickin' cotton for ribbons and bows." Ginny pulled the mic off of the stand and squatted down closer to the people on the dance floor.

For this part of the song Ginny's eyes were locked on Draco, every move she made seemed to be for him, and only him, even though they were in a crowded room.

"Everybody knows you love me baby. Everybody knows that you really do. Everybody knows that you been faithful, give or take a night or two. Everybody knows you been discrete, so many people you had to meet without your clothes and everybody knows."

From across the room Draco could feel the blood rush to his face making him feel hot. The sight of her on the stage, moving her hands over all over herself, the constant eye contact they had made, all of it together was making him feel uncomfortable.

"Everybody knows, everybody knows, that's the way it goes. Everybody knows." Ginny continued to sing, her gaze now on someone else, freeing Draco to return to his normal Slytherin self.

"Who is_ that_?" A random muggle asked the silver-haired boy watching the girl onstage with the intensity of the sun.

He smirked and gave a short snort, "I have no idea."

"Everybody knows, everybody knows, that's how it goes, and everybody knows." When Ginny finished the song there was an uproar of applause, the entire room seemed to be on its feet. And when she came running up to him, his stomach flipped, and when she flung her arms around him his heart pounded loudly against his chest, and when she kissed him on the lips, even though it only lasted a half of a nanosecond, his heart stopped. Draco stood there in a daze as Ginny ran out of the club. Slowly he followed her, watching her spin around in the city streets, laughing as it began to rain.

Draco wondered where the Gryffindor girl who was about ready to snap his head off yesterday was, and what Ginny Weasly had done to her. Something deep inside him told him that somehow he was going to find out, whether it was right or not.


End file.
